By Ben Joravsky
The proposed project, targeted for a vacant lot at 4040 N. Sheridan, is named for activist Ruth Shriman. Before she died in 1994 Shriman conducted a housing survey that showed that as many as 4,000 seniors faced displacement on the north side, as affordable units were lost to rising rents and condo conversions.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“It was hard because almost all of the land around here is being developed very fast,” says Dan Schwick, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and president of the LAC. In 1995 they noticed that the Palacio, an abandoned movie theater on Sheridan Road just north of Irving Park, was being demolished. Within a year they put together a proposal to develop the site with 70 one-bedroom apartments and 12 studios renting for between $265 and $560 a month. A developer was brought in (the Interfaith Housing Development Corporation), an architect was hired (Michael Gelick), building plans were drawn, and a site manager was selected (Lutheran Social Services of Illinois).
What they didn’t have was the blessing of the Buena Park Neighbors, a block club formed only last February.
Pries contends that his group discovered Callahan wouldn’t be attending the meeting after calling Schwick. “We found out only because we called and Schwick’s like, ‘Can we cancel and come back later?’” says Pries. “And we said, ‘No, we had passed out flyers, the community’s coming. Can you make a reasonable presentation?’ And he showed up without handouts and without basic answers and this one person he was with kept saying, ‘You’re going to have to talk to our attorneys.’ We’re like, ‘Stand back. What kind of development is this if the executive director is the only person who can talk about it? Doesn’t he have an associate who can stand in for him?’”
The letter offended the developers, who accused the block club of invoking Cabrini-Green to exploit antipathy to public housing, and it upset Helen Shiller, who says she believes the block club’s little more than a front for whoever intends to challenge her for reelection in 1999. “They want to show that they can kill any kind of low-income housing,” says Shiller, “even housing for seniors.”
Either way, both sides agree that the matter probably will resurface when Shiller runs for reelection.
